Elaine Edwards reports:
Potentially sensitive personal details of every citizen born or who married in the State, including information often used for security questions for banking, were openly available on a government website until last Friday.
The Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht has removed the database of civil registration records from the website irishgenealogy.ie following the intervention of Data Protection Commissioner Billy Hawkes.
While they are not defined as “sensitive” personal information in the legal sense under data protection law, details such as a birth date or a mother’s maiden name, which were on the site, could potentially be used to attempt fraud or identity theft.
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